Our Family Project

This girl is so creative.  She turned the garbage can into her own little desk one morning.  We'd worked on a shape book the day before, and when I went downstairs the next day, she had pushed the stool over to the garbage can so she could draw some more in her book.  Her shape book is one of my favorite things we've done recently.  Adam, Maryanne and I sat down at the kitchen table with a big stack of construction paper and started to create.  I folded Maryanne's white paper in such a way that it actually turns pages like a book.  Then, I decided to put a different colored shape on each page.  Adam helped me to remember all of the shapes.  And, M glued them down on the pages.  Then, I followed through writing the word of the shape in a matching color, and numbered and lettered the shapes.  Meanwhile, Adam made his own little book.  It was a fun day.  I need to write more about the fun learning things we do to keep me motivat...

After our first week's theme of water, we continued to learn about it.  We measured water into glasses and played a water xylophone.  Adam could literally do this everyday and be content.  He loved it.  We talked about pitch and sound, air and water.  It was great to watch him put the glasses in order by pitch after I'd mixed them up.  And, it was all so satisfying, knowing that he is learning and growing, and it didn't cost me a cent.  By far, one of the best days of preschool this year.

Several years ago ... and I'm talking at least eight years ago ... I really got into a "file folder games" kick.  At the time I was looking for something that would entertain Eliza during the 70 minutes sacrament meeting at church every Sunday.  I was looking for something quiet and self-directing that would also provide some sort of learning for her.  There were a couple glitches when it came to making file folder games. I'm sure most of you are familiar with them.  There's a base picture with velcro pieces on it, and little cut-outs with the opposite piece of velcro on their back sides.  The child matches the little pieces to the pictures on the base (which is glued to the file folder). There were a couple of glitches when it came to making and utilizing these file folder games.  One: I didn't like covering up the pictures with the tiny velcro pieces.  Two: I didn't like the noise/sound that would occur when taking the small cut-out pictures off th...

Adam's started his first week of preschool.  We picked up where preschool left off last year: the letter H, number 10, reviewing his shapes.  I wanted the theme to be something really enjoyable ... so I picked: Water. We talked about animals that live in water, made a trip to the pool to swim in water, and did our science experiment to discover what floats.  Adam loved putting things in the water.  I had a hard time getting him to form a hypothesis ... he just wanted to find out! When we were finished we got out his preschool journal and he drew pictures of the things that float on one side of the page and things that sink on the other side of the page.  Then, he wrote his letter H, and his number 10. Each day he asks if he can do preschool.  It's so wonderful to have a child that motivates me to keep preparing and teaching.  And, I'm sure it doesn't help that he is so willing to learn and grow, and he picks up on things super fast, even befor...

I saw this great idea on a blog one day, and now I can't find it.  So, if anyone has seen this before, and knows the blog address, please let me know! The other day, Andrew and Adam made our own movable alphabet.  I remember using something similar when I'd volunteer in Eliza's first grade classroom to help the children practice spelling words.  Now that both Andrew and Adam have caught the reading bug (thanks Lynette for your help with Teach Your Child to Read in 100 Easy Lessons! ), I thought that letting them make their own words would be a great activity for them during the summer (and even into the school year ... I'm sure this will come in handy with spelling list practice). I got the foam letters and containers at JoAnn ; I even had the boys with me so they could get excited about the project.  The next day, I printed out the grid sheets and gave the boys some glue and told them to just go at it.  Adam went like gang busters, just putting whicheve...

Our preschool unit before Thanksgiving was "Food." Technically, it was the unit the week after Thanksgiving also ... which was my week. So, the Monday after Thanksgiving, I decided I had to do the craft that Eliza did when she was in Kindergarten. Each of the children made a Native American headband, vest (for the boys), and skirt (for the girls); and they each got to wear a Pilgrim hat (or bonnet for the girls). So, after they all got dressed up in whichever outfit they wanted, we sat around our "white" table (the table designated for Preschool) and talked about the kinds of food the Pilgrims and Indians ate at the first Thanksgiving. We also pulled out pictures of food from an envelope and talked about whether it was good or bad for our bodies. It was so much fun. But, I think the best part was when they all decided to be Indians and run around chasing each other. I have to say, I'm liking this preschool thing ... I love coming up with fun activities for th...

My first day of teaching preschool was like a train wreck! I had no clue what to expect. Things were much different my second day. And, the children were awesome! We started out talking about what day it was and season and all that. Then, we painted "trees" on papers to dry before adding the "leaves." I don't remember where I saw this activity, but the children LOVED it! They each chose their favorite season and used their fingertips to paint leaves on their handprint trees to depict their chosen season. This last picture is the best example ... this student chose to do spring leaves. Adam did autumn leaves ... hence the reason most of them are on the ground instead of the branches. By far this was the best activity we've done at my house. (At least as far as art projects go ... they really enjoyed dressing up in articles of clothing that we wear during the different seasons too.)